For me it's difficult comparing them. Michael danced so much better than expected while Denise didn't reach the high standard she'd set in the previous two weeks. Thus my emotional reaction was so much different to their dances, being more than pleantly surprised with Michael and being somewhat underwhelmed with Denise.

Michael may have been a wee bit overmarked and I may have given him a 7 rather than an 8, but he still probably just edged it over Denise for me. Having said that I thought Denise's Cha Cha Cha was much better than Dani's.

Michael did really well tonight, really entertaining I thought. Denise seemed to go at the whole dance half heartedly and to be honest I found it boring.

I liked Denise's dance, it was the best of the night... until Michael, Louis and Victoria all danced

Yes, he was, and by a fair margin too in my mind - and I like Denise!

She was the one who was overmarked tonight I thought, technically parts of it were good but she was getting basics wrong and it was all a bit timid. She was better than Dani though.

Michael on the other hand had some great quickstep technique, actually looked like he was leading Natalie and had energy and finesse while being in the spooky character. In my mind he was UNDERmarked!

Lightfooted, graceful and elegant.

Just the same as he was as a batsman.

Yes, he was better than Denise.

He should have had 4 8's

There was no over marking from the judges.

Agree with the general view that Denise lacked hip action and attack. Really surprised by that as I think Denise is generally impressive. Michael was very good and deserved his higher marks.

Nope he was better than Denise & she was in the right place on the leaderboard

Agree with much of the above and in particular Michael taking himself into the top five on the night
BUT
In talking poor we have to discuss Sid, Lisa and Fern
Sid dreadful in entertainment terms and hardly better in dance performance IE the poorest all-round performance on the night
Fern reasonable entertainment by way of charm and persona but failing to move forward in dance which was flat and she really does look tired
Lisa still plenty of charm and rising bubbles but in dance terms fails to progress from day one and as opposed to other comments her footwork was tired technically poor and flat

Bottom two for me:

Sid and Lisa with Fern a possiblity

Think you might have posted in the wrong thread, Pa.

I gave Michael a standing O when he finished his QS. Way to go. You are a ballroom boy, and at last you have shwon you are better than Phil Tufnell.

I do like it when a crapper suddenly makes good. Excellent work!

A lot of couples were better than Denise, she looked very unsure of herself tonight (for real!).

Huge improvement from Michael this week and good on Natalie for the work she has put in. I would score him over Denise because she was a bit reticent and it showed.

Defiantly deserved the scores tonight. He was light footed, looked like he was leading and was actually in time with the music. Shows how much work he and Natalie have put in this week. Denise on the other hand was average, and I thought she should have produced more ,played it a bit safe .
Well done Michael!

I've just finished watching tonights show, but had I seen all the dances before the lines closed, I would definitely have voted for Michael - WOW, way to go Michael & Natalie. They do not deserve to be in the dance off this week.

I think he was brilliant and I was glad he was marked up-

The others? No over marked and Denise was good just not her best.

Darcy gives what she wants!

He should have had 4 8's thoroughly deserved the praise he got tonight, great improvement. Natalie lowe you are a genius!

Amazingly light footed - congrats to Michael & Natalie on a turning it around.

Hope it's not latin next week

Michael turned it around tonight and deserved his score. Natalie has done an amazing job with Michael and I hope they now go from strength to strength.

Denise wasn't as good as she has been in the last two weeks, plus I hated the music and costumes Denise and James were wearing were awful - so was their hair and make up.

Was he better than Denise? Yes. That's why the judges gave 3 eights.

Michael was better than Denise.

A celebrity MALE making a good effort at a quickstep is always impressive.

He showed good promise week 1 in the waltz but I fear he'll always be hopeless at Latin or for more than 3 steps out of contact with Natalie.

Denise will almost certainly last longer in the end though.

I have been rewatching Michael and Natalie's dance for the last 2 hours...not fed up of it yet

although there were some technical things I spotted, all negated for me by the brilliant footwork and his shoulder line.

It's still early days for all the celebs..

should have been 2nd best dance of the night marks wise

Much better than Denise - didn't like her dance

Darcy? Don't you know it's DARCEY hahahahaha just joking - I was told off tonight for spelling it Darcy
(see my thread on page 2 - 'Don't start Darcy'.